08ASTANA366, KAZAKHSTAN: USE OF MOBILE GROUPS ON THE BORDER

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UNCLAS ASTANA 000366
SIPDIS
STATE FOR INL (BALABANIAN); SCA/CEN (OMARA), SCA/RA
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNARKCRMKCORPRELKZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: USE OF MOBILE GROUPS ON THE BORDER
REF: A. 07 ASTANA 3287
¶B. 07 ASTANA 3355
¶1. Summary: The Kazakhstani Border Guard Service (BGS) is
interested in establishing mobile border guard groups to combat both
trafficking and corruption. End Summary.
¶2. On November 29, Lieutenant-General Nikolai Rybalkin, Deputy Head
of the Border Guard Service of the Russian Federal Security Service
(FSB), announced that the Russian Border Guard Service has
established special units (similar to SWAT Teams) that will work at
the most vulnerable and dangerous parts of the border in order to
more effectively fight crime. Currently, such units are operating
in Northern Caucasus, at the Kazakhstani-Russian border, and in the
Far East. Equipment and arms provided to the Russian mobile special
groups allow them to operate both in the mountains and on the sea.
The mobility of the groups is an important deterrent to those who
may attempt to illegally cross the border. Rybalkin also stated
that the FSB will continue creating such units and sending them to
other parts of the border.
¶3. During an April 2007 visit to the Kazakhstani-Uzbek border, an
INL program manager observed the work of a Kazakhstani mobile group
at the Saryagash border checkpoint. The group was made up of
several mid-level officers from the Border Guard Division in
Saryagash. The mobile group made an unannounced visit to the border
checkpoint and participated in passport processing of passengers.
¶4. During last year's annual message to the people, President
Nazarbayev stated that the fight against corruption was one of 30
priority tasks of the government. The creation of border guard
mobile groups directly addresses this task and will be a powerful
weapon in the fight against corruption in the BGS. Because of
personnel shortages, the BGS hires former military personnel from
the villages near the border as contractors. Though this has solved
the basic personnel issue, it has caused concerns. Some
entrepreneurs have found that friendships with the border guards
help their business. For the contractors, living among the people
who cross the border on a daily basis presents opportunities for
corruption. The BGS hopes that the use of roving patrols with no
ties to the community may help keep its contractors honest.
¶5. Because of several incidents on the border of Uzbekistan and
Kazakhstan in April 2006, members of Parliament visited several
villages and spoke with the citizens in order to better understand
the causes of the incidents. To their surprise, the deputies heard
much more about corruption among the border guards. They were told,
for example, that it cost a driver of a commercial freight truck
approximately 1,000 tenge ($8) to pass through temporary "entry
points" unofficially opened by border guards.
¶6. The BGS is now planning a pilot project to fully equip and train
one mobile group to prevent corruption, stop traffickers and those
that illegally cross the border, and perform rescue operations on
both land and sea. Post expects to receive a request to fund the
pilot phase. It is not yet clear whether the GOK plans to request
assistance from other international donors. If the first mobile
group proves its effectiveness, the Border Guard Service will
introduce more at the most vulnerable parts of the border. The GOK
may be willing to provide the funding to create and support future
mobile groups.
¶7. During his trip to the U.S., Deputy Head of the BGS
General-Major Berkaliyev was impressed by the operation of the U.S.
Border Patrol's BORTAC (tactical) and BORSTAR (search and rescue)
teams and requested training from these units (ref A). Such
training, especially search and rescue, would be an integral part of
the training program for mobile groups.
¶8. The BGS continues to struggle with the openness of the southern
border, especially the border with Uzbekistan. One of the most
serious problems along the southern border is the narrow and
under-protected green zone between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The
checkpoints along this border are equipped, staffed, and operating
effectively; however, traffickers and illegal migrants have been
able to avoid these checkpoints. In other cases, traffickers have
been willing to use violent methods to boldly cross through
checkpoints, as was the case in December 2007 on the
Kazakhstani-Kyrgyz border (ref B). The development of mobile groups
will allow the BGS to both patrol the green zone and quickly provide
back-up to checkpoints in case of an attack.
¶9. Comment. As the BGS looks forward to strengthening not only
border checkpoints but border posts along the green zone, U.S.
assistance, training, and experience is needed more than ever. End
Comment.
ORDWAY

The information recorded on this site has been extracted from http://Wikileaks.org (Kazakhstan) database..

We wish to express our gratitude to Julian Assange and his team for making this data available as it is an important public record.

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